Decorating a tree in the order that actually works

Step one: shape it, before anything goes on

Every layer after this one sits on the shape you build now, and no amount of decoration fixes a tree that was not opened out. Work section by section from the bottom, spreading each branch and turning the tips so they face outward and slightly up.

This is also where an unlit tree earns its place: the 1,346-tip unlit spruce can be shaped without working around a fixed light string, and its lighting is then a decision rather than an inheritance. The full shaping method is on tree assembly and shaping, and the pre-lit trade-off is on pre-lit vs unlit.

Step two: lights, deep before wide

The mistake is wrapping lights around the outside of the tree like a ribbon. Depth is what makes a tree glow rather than sparkle: run the string in toward the trunk and back out along each branch, so half the light comes from inside the foliage.

A 100-count LED mini string at 4-inch spacing gives 33 feet of lighted length, which is the right format for this job — close spacing reads as continuous glow rather than as points. On a flocked or white-toned tree the white-wire version disappears in daylight, which matters because the tree is looked at in daylight far more hours than at night. Run the numbers for your own tree on the lights calculator, and check the total draw on the load calculator.

Step three: ribbon or garland, if you are using it

Ribbon goes on before ornaments, never after, because it needs to be tucked into the foliage and an ornament in the way makes that impossible. It also does a structural job: a vertical or spiralling run breaks the tree into sections, which is what stops a large tree reading as one undifferentiated mass.

A 9 ft pre-lit garland at 100 published lights works as a tree garland as well as on a mantel, and the tip density is the reason — at a published 100 lights it holds its own against the tree rather than looking like a wire draped over it. Length planning is on how much garland do I need.

Step four: ornaments, in three passes

Not one pass. Three, and in this order:

• Deep filler first. Plain ornaments hung close to the trunk, in the shadowed interior. Nobody looks at these directly and they do more for how full the tree looks than anything else.
• Then the mid layer. The bulk of the collection, hung at varying depths rather than all on the outer tips.
• Feature pieces last, at eye level. The ones with meaning go where people stand, not at the top where they read as texture.

Work around the whole tree at each pass rather than finishing one side. The count for each layer is on how many ornaments a tree takes, and everything comes off into a rigid divided box in January rather than a carton — the method is on how to pack ornaments.

Steps five and six: topper, then skirt

The topper goes on before the skirt for the practical reason that fitting it usually involves standing where the skirt would be, and often moving the tree. Measure for it before you buy the tree — a topper is commonly 8 to 12 inches, and an 8-foot ceiling does not take a 7.5-foot tree plus a topper plus a stand. The sizing is on tree size and tip count.

The skirt is last and it does two jobs: it hides the stand and it hides the cords. If the cord run is awkward, solve it before the skirt goes down rather than lifting it afterwards.

The check that finishes it

Turn off the room lights, switch the tree on, and look at it from where people will actually sit. Three things show up in that view and in no other: dark patches in the lighting, a side that received less attention, and any place where the trunk shows through. All three are ten-minute fixes at this stage and impossible ones once the presents are under it.